Protagonist of Petrie's popular series, Peter Ash is a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Now he's a wanted man lying low in Milwaukee with girlfriend June while renovating buildings with a good friend. Then response to June's reporting on a high-tech robbery gets nasty, and Peter must step in to protect her.

Best-selling author Petrie (The Drifter) gives his Peter Ash character the possibility of redemption and freedom in his sixth novel. Ash, his friend Lewis, a fellow military veteran, and his girlfriend, June are enjoying a night out when Ash notices a man with a concealed gun in a public location. He and Lewis try to stop the shooting and only one man gets shot. Before the police arrive, though, the gunman and the victim both disappear. Ash, who is wanted by the FBI and Interpol for events in previous novels, receives an offer from a mysterious man to clear up his name entirely if he and Lewis can solve this mystery. The two men track the gunman while June searches for the injured victim, whom she believes she knows from her past. The novel moves quickly from action to action; the dialogue is quick and believable from each character. Petrie's Ash will find a large audience as the damaged man trying to get by and doing the right thing in dangerous situations. VERDICT Fans of Petrie's previous "Ash" novels and Lee Child's "Jack Reacher" series will fly through this exciting story and wait eagerly for the next installment.—Jason L. Steagall, Arapahoe Libs., Centennial, CO

At the start of Thriller Award winner Petrie's disappointing fifth Peter Ash novel (after 2020's The Wild One), the PTSD-afflicted Iraq War vet is having coffee at Milwaukee's Public Market with his buddy Lewis, a fellow vet, when a bearded man walks past with an assault rifle peeking out from under his jacket. Concerned the gunman might launch an attack, Peter and Lewis follow him, but he only tries to steal a man's phone; Peter and Lewis thwart the robbery, but he escapes. The gunman turns out to be a young woman in disguise—Spark, a high-tech genius out to get revenge on techno-lord Vincent Holloway, an amoral megalomaniac who stole a valuable invention of hers. Peter ends up trying to save Spark from Holloway, who dispatches a creepy henchman to capture her. Petrie expertly handles the rotating points of view, but the big finale—an extended shoot-out between Peter's gang and an army of Holloway's lethal, highly intelligent robots—isn't entirely persuasive. The action, supercharged with 007-style threats, builds to a rather abrupt conclusion. Series fans will hope that Peter returns to his old-school heroism next time around. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman Literary. (Jan.)